Ambitious Grads Earn Major Honors
Six Westmont students completed major honors projects before graduating in 2022: Ethan Walker (chemistry), Abi Bradshaw (communication studies), Chapman Canlis (philosophy), Loren Schneider (communication studies), John Corbett (chemistry) and Wesley Brown (mathematics).
These are year-long research projects that go beyond the typical senior capstone requirements of a major and are ultimately submitted to a committee of three faculty members.
“They're ambitious, and often quite extensive in scope,” says Eileen McQuade, associate dean of the faculty and professor of biology. “These projects require patience, perseverance and dedication, but equally important, are wisdom, creativity, and curiosity.”
Ethan’s research, “Synthesis and Characterization of the Aggregation of Mouse Insulin 1 and Insulin 2,” examined the peptide involved in regulating blood glucose levels.
Abi’s project, “Listening to Laughter: The Art of Listening to Augmentative and Alternative Communication,” explains ways people can better listen to those who primarily communicate without embodied speech.
Chapman offers “The Joy of Imagination,” which investigates C.S. Lewis’ claim that “reason is the natural organ of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.”
Loren explores evangelical Christian understandings of romantic relationships as revealed by themes within a community's dating literature project in “Romantic Relationships in the Evangelical Mind: A Fantasy Theme Analysis of Christian Dating Books.”
John’s research “A Computational Study of the Formation and Reactivity of O-coordinated Oxenium Ions,” trying to put a positive charge on oxygen, looking at 53 different coordinating groups, singling out which one worked best, and then adding another molecule to see where it binds.
Wesley explored an algorithm used to decompose wave signals into different components in his project, “Two-Dimensional Empirical Mode Decomposition and its Applications,” and discusses applications of this process to the medical field.